


A Man and an Idea

by Kalypso



Series: Conversations with Lady Pole [5]
Category: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:53:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27107512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalypso/pseuds/Kalypso
Summary: Emma Pole and John Childermass travel to a Johannite gathering at Barnard Castle, hoping to find the Raven King and ask for his help in the search for Jonathan Strange.
Relationships: Emma Pole & John Childermass
Series: Conversations with Lady Pole [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1164296
Comments: 4
Kudos: 5





	A Man and an Idea

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fengirl88](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fengirl88/gifts).



> My fifth story in the world of _Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell_ follows [The King's Letters](http://archiveofourown.org/works/%2021086660). It is 1820, and the repercussions of the Manchester Massacre of the Johannites are spreading across the North as the magicians of Starecross continue their quest to restore Jonathan Strange to his wife.

_The Raven King has always been associated with riot and revolution._

The chaise clattered over the bridge linking Yorkshire to Durham, and Emma Pole peered up at the ruined towers looming over the Tees. Castles still made her skin prickle after ten years in Lost-hope, though this one did not look like the fairy's halls. While much of the stonework was gone, there was some thing solid and practical about the round tower; designed to withstand attack, rather than furnish a picturesque backdrop for fantastical ceremonies.

"Was it built by the Raven King?"

John Childermass nodded. "One reason why the Johannites have been drawn here."

There had been many Johannite meetings, not only in northern England, since the dreadful events in Manchester the previous year: some protesting at the massacre of innocent citizens, some raising grievances of their own. As often as the authorities tried to stamp them out, they reappeared elsewhere.

And, after much argument, the magicians of Starecross had decided to visit one of these gatherings, to find out whether there was any truth in stories of John Uskglass himself being sighted, in the hope that he could help in their search for Jonathan Strange. Mr Segundus was doubtful. "If the King were here, why would he not declare himself? The Government in London would be obliged to return the lands that our King - I mean King George and his forebears - have held in stewardship since his departure, and the Johannites would be safe from attack." But Mr Honeyfoot pointed out that most tales of John Uskglass appearing over the past few centuries recounted brief encounters with ordinary people, and no greater matters. Finally Mrs Strange said there was no harm in asking, as long as they kept themselves away from any confrontation.

"I will go," said Childermass. "The Johannites are my kin; if I were not here, I would join them."

"But that increases the danger to you, should the troops intervene," said Mr Segundus. "You may be arrested as one of them."

"Then I will go with Childermass," said Emma. "If any soldier challenges us, we will explain that I am Lady Pole, a gentlewoman travelling with my manservant."

So when they heard of the gathering at Barnard Castle, she set out with Childermass. 

Driving up the high street, they stopped at the King's Head, and arranged to leave the chaise there. While they took a light repast, Lady Pole enquired about the Johannites.

"You're safe here, my lady," said the landlord. "They've occupied the Demesnes, the other side of the church. Some come into Market Place to buy food, but I won't let them in here."

"Are they so fearsome?" she asked. "I hear that many are simply weavers fallen on hard times."

He nodded reluctantly. "Times have been hard since the war. But there's no need to go running after old stories of the Raven King. We look to the future here. Some men of our town have set up a carpet factory to give the weavers work."

Emma commended their enterprise. Soon afterwards, she and Childermass were walking down Market Place towards the church, where they began to hear music from the fields beyond. At first sight, the camp seemed more like a fair, with fiddlers playing, street magicians shewing off their skills, and children chasing each other between stalls. Everywhere banners were flapping bravely, some black, some brightly coloured. "Uskglass and Liberty" said one. "Britons demand Justice." "The North Answers to No King But the Raven". Many displayed the King's emblem, a raven in flight.

Most curious was the exhibition of a cauliflower, one side eaten away, on a stall otherwise covered in pamphlets. "It represents the North, devoured by the fat caterpillars of King George's government," said a young woman handing Emma a paper expounding the metaphor.

"Thank you," she said. "You offer plenty of reading."

The woman smiled proudly. "Margaret Lonsdale, at your service. Mr Lonsdale and I have a small press. We publish speeches... broadside ballads... a few spells..."

"You haven't any thing from John Uskglass?"

"That would be a fine thing! One day!"

Emma gave her a penny and politely chose a couple of pamphlets.

As they moved on, asking questions here and there, they were startled by a shout of "Stop thief!" and, turning round, they saw a respectable-looking man running after a figure in a blue coat and a very battered hat.

"Vinculus!" cried Childermass. He set off in pursuit, and Emma tried to run after them, hampered by her skirts. She lost sight of Childermass and Vinculus - if it was him - in the crowd, though she met the man who had first given chase coming back.

"I cannot leave my stall," he explained, "or all my gingerbread will be stolen."

"Ah... so it was gingerbread that the man took?"

"Yes. I have a shop in town, but saw no harm in selling to these people - some of my neighbours disagree, but I love the Raven King."

They reached his stall, and found Mrs Lonsdale standing guard over it.

"Let me buy some," said Lady Pole. "I will pay for what that man stole, as well." If it _was_ Vinculus, she felt some responsibility.

"Very good of you, ma'am," he said, wrapping the gingerbread in paper.

Emma wandered through the crowd looking for Childermass; after a while, she caught sight of him in the distance, walking back to the town.

"Of course," she thought. "He is doing the sensible thing to find me - returning to the King's Head."

She hurried after him, lost him as he turned past the church, then saw him heading briskly up the street. But now that he was alone, and her view was not impeded by the crowd, she began to doubt that it was Childermass. Though his clothes were black, they had a finer cut, his hair was a little longer, and there was some thing more upright about his gait. As she followed, he turned left, towards the ruins of the castle, not right, towards the inn.

Suddenly an idea gripped her. She continued her pursuit and climbed the grassy slope to the castle; pausing for breath, she saw a bird perched on a wall, staring down at her.

Emma passed under an arch and found the man seated on a stone, watching her as keenly as the raven. She walked slowly towards him, taking in his pale face and dark eyes; she could smell magic, and for a moment she saw the walls whole again, and bright with tapestries.

"Are you John Uskglass?"

"Are you Emma Wintertowne?"

His accent was strange - recognisably northern, yet foreign too - but he sounded amused. He pointed her towards a curved wooden chair, which had not been there a moment ago, and she sat down.

"Why do you not reveal yourself to your followers?" she asked.

"I have sent my book. It contains all they need."

"You mean Vinculus? No one can read what he says!"

"Have you not deciphered it?"

"Some," she said. "Stephen Black helped us, and we have reconstructed passages." She pulled some pages from her reticule, which she had brought to study on the journey. "What is _that_ word?"

He peered at it. "Hustings."

"I confess, sir, I am puzzled. I did not expect a King to propose enfranchising the people."

He shrugged. "I have ruled three kingdoms for centuries. It is hard work, and I cannot concentrate on all of them at once. But the southern kings who act as my stewards do it very badly. Better to put tools in my people's hands, so they can help themselves. Through my first book, magic is restored, but in this age it is not enough. That is why I sent another book."

"You care about the people, then?"

"They are mine, like the trees and the water and the stones."

"They belong to you?"

"Like the trees and the water and the stones. I feel them flowing through my veins, but they have lives of their own."

"But why are you here if not to reclaim your throne?"

"I come from time to time to see how my land fares. Besides, I was summoned."

"Summoned?"

"Your friends called me."

"My friends... do you mean Mr Strange and Mr Norrell?"

"Are they not your friends? They were trying to free you and another lady from enchantment."

"Mr Norrell is very far from being my friend; he was responsible for my enchantment in the first place."

"And the other one?"

"Mr Strange is the husband of my friend - the other lady." Emma was sure he knew all of this already. " _That_ is why I have studied magic - Arabella is desperate to rescue him, as he rescued her. Please - can you tell us where to find Jonathan Strange?"

"I can tell you where I last saw him. He was in a library, not far from here, built from the stones of my abbey."

Emma frowned. "Do you mean Hurtfew? It disappeared into the Darkness."

"You may not see it, but it is still there."

"Mrs Strange saw him after that, in Padua."

"Very possible."

"But he is alive? And..." - another thought struck her - "...he is _real_? Vinculus once told me Mr Strange and Mr Norrell were merely a part of your spell."

"What do _you_ think, Emma Wintertowne?"

She hesitated. "I have also heard it said that the Raven King is not a man but an idea. But now I think he is both. So Mr Strange and Mr Norrell may be part of your spell, and yet have their own lives... like the stones and the water and the trees."

He nodded.

"Am _I_ part of your spell?" she asked.

"Lady Pole!"

Emma blinked. She was sitting on the grass in the ruins of the castle, and John Childermass was climbing the hill.

"Lady Pole!" he called again. "What are you doing here?"

She looked round as a bird flew off towards the river.

"I thought I saw you walking this way," she said, getting to her feet. "Did you find Vinculus?"

"Gone to ground. I think he's hiding in a tent, but the Johannites wouldn't let me inside. You might do better; he likes you."

"Well, I will try." Emma started putting the papers in her hand back in the reticule, then halted, puzzled, looking at a sheet bearing only the words _It is still there_. She did not remember writing that...

"Is some thing wrong?"

"No. I bought some gingerbread - would you like some?"

They made their way back to the Johannite camp. Passing the stall with the pamphlets and the cauliflower, Emma had a sudden impulse. She pulled out her translation of the Raven King's letters - except for that extra paper - and held the pages out to Margaret Lonsdale.

"These words come from a book by John Uskglass," she said. "And I think you ought to publish them."

**Author's Note:**

> One thing I really hated about the TV dramatisation of _Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell_ was the depiction of the Raven King. When Childermass meets him in the book, he sees a man with straight, dark hair like a Methodist preacher or a Romantic poet (ie shoulder-length), wearing black boots and a travelling coat which are clearly expensive and look fashionable (not mediaeval). He also _talks_ , with an accent that's an odd mixture of Northumbrian, Nordic and French. I've tried to reclaim that character.
> 
> I chose Barnard Castle as the setting for Emma Pole's latest adventure, not because of any contemporary resonances, but because my family were living there in 1820, when this encounter takes place; our business interests included gingerbread and carpets. But once I had hit upon it, everything seemed to fit my purpose, from the [12th-century castle](https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/barnard-castle/), neatly coinciding with John Uskglass's arrival in 1110, to the plight of the weavers seven hundred years later.
> 
> Margaret Lonsdale is very loosely inspired by Susanna Saxton of the Manchester Female Reform Society, a key figure in the group who organised the Radical rally that became known as [Peterloo](http://peterloomassacre.org/history.html). The [ display of a cauliflower or cabbage eaten by caterpillars](https://twitter.com/Live1819/status/1177539882421555200) did happen at a Nottingham meeting in September 1819 called to protest about the Peterloo Massacre. An interesting aspect of the Radical movement is that many of them argued that they were calling for the restoration of rights that had been taken away from them rather than for some thing new; I think this ties in with the yearning for the return of the Raven King.
> 
> At one point this story included a digression about the Radical War of 1820 in Scotland (intimately connected with the campaign for reform and redress which led to Peterloo) and [James Wilson](http://www.maggiecraig.co.uk/2020/04/06/scotlands-radical-rising-of-1820-the-strathaven-pioneers/), an elderly Radical weaver who was executed despite the jury recommending clemency. Though I like to think that the magicians of Starecross were properly shocked by the brutal suppression of the uprising - and of course by Peterloo - I reluctantly concluded that their primary interests are not political and it was too much of a distraction.


End file.
